Environmental pollution has recently become a serious economic issue, and finding ways to reduce pollution in economic development is an urgent task for developing countries, especially China. In this paper, we aim to document the policy role of development zones (DZs) in promoting China’s economic development on environmental pollution and consider the establishment of DZs as a quasi-natural experiment. Specifically, we identify the establishment of DZs on pollution emissions based on the staggered difference-in-difference (DID) approach by setting a dummy variable for DZ policies. Furthermore, we examine the heterogeneity of provincial and national (high-tech and economic development zones) DZs on pollution to detect the government domination effect. Finally, in order to deal with the potential spatial spillover effects of DZs, this paper applies the spatial difference-in-difference (SDID) method to explore the spatial reallocation effects of DZs. The results indicate that the provincial DZs can aggravate China’s pollution intensity, but they will no longer play the same role for national-level policies. Moreover, we find that national high-tech industrial DZs (HTZs) can reduce pollution intensity. In particular, the national DZs can bring about the reallocation of pollution among cities working as a selective place-based policy. That means that the national HTZs will not only reduce the local pollution intensity, but also reduce that of surrounding areas. Our empirical results highlight that cities should be encouraged to set up national HTZs in order to achieve an environmentally friendly high-quality development goal.

With the increasingly serious environmental problems, coordinating the relationship between the environment and economic development has become a crucial task for developing countries, especially China. This paper studies the role of eco-industrial parks (EIPs) in the emissions of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide in China with the difference-in-difference (DID) approach by focusing on the entire process of EIPs’ establishment—upgrading provincial development zones (DZs) to national DZs and then transforming national DZs into EIPs. Besides, we examined the heterogeneous effect of the different transformations from national economic and technological development zones (ETZs) or national high-tech zones (HTZs) to EIPs. In addition, we studied the spatial spillover effects of EIPs and their paths with the spatial difference-in-difference (SDID) method. The results show that neither provincial DZs nor national DZs can significantly reduce sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide emissions. Only when national DZs are transformed into EIPs can they be reduced significantly. However, the different transformations from the HTZs and ETZs to EIPs have different effects on emissions. Moreover, EIPs have technology spillovers and demonstration effects on surrounding areas. Therefore, EIPs can reduce emissions in the surrounding areas. The results indicate that, in order to achieve high-quality development and coordinate the relationship between environment and economic development, we should take positive steps to promote the transformation of DZs into EIPs.

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Eco-industrial parks (EIPs) promote the coordination of economic development and environmental protection. This paper uses the nonlinear DID method, with the data of 288 cities spanning from 2003–2019, to study the nonlinear effects of EIPs on SO2 and CO2 emissions, aiming to portray the nonlinear and heterogeneous characteristics of EIP’s effects. Meanwhile, this paper examines the effects of EIPs more accurately and completely. The main results are as follows: 1. EIPs can significantly reduce CO2 and SO2 emissions, but there is significant heterogeneity between the effects. 2. The effect of EIPs on SO2 and CO2 emissions is nonlinear. In addition, it shows significant nonlinear characteristics as the change of foreign investment and population density in cities. Therefore, it is important to consider these nonlinear characteristics when establishing and evaluating EIPs. This paper accurately identifies the nonlinear effects of EIPs and provides some suggestions for the future development of EIPs.

With the rapid development of the economy, human survival and socio-economic development are facing the severe challenges of climate threats. Global warming is one of the greatest threats to human survival and political stability that has occurred in human history. The main factor causing global warming is the extensive use of energy; therefore, it is imperative to spend more effort in energy conservation and emission reduction. In this context, this paper provides a reference and basis for decision making on emission-reduction paths through the perspective of energy input misallocation and economies of scale of CO2 emissions. The results show that for cities with relatively low energy inputs, the impact of excessive energy input on CO2 emissions is stronger than the effect of the scale of energy input on reducing CO2 emissions. Therefore, these cities need to prioritize energy conservation and emission reduction. On the other hand, in cities with large energy inputs, the impact of the scale of energy input on reducing CO2 emissions is more significant than the effect of excessive energy input on CO2 emissions. Therefore, these areas should also focus on energy conservation and emission reduction. The results of this paper have theoretical value and practical significance for scientifically implementing energy conservation and emission reduction strategies, as well as reasonably planning energy conservation pathways.